Self-shank button drilling machines



y 1, 1.958 F. R. GREENE ET AL 2,841,040

' SELF-*SHANK BUTTON- DRILLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 & m

INVENTORS fi'edericif 1? Greene William .UmZa/ndt BY F. R. GREENE ET AL 2,841,040

SELF-SHANK BUTTON DRILLING MACHINES July 1, 1958 Filed Dec. 18, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 G I m ll O I I m 'w Q Mllllllli INVENTORS Willi m/i Vm/Zcmd BY W W AIZORNEYS July 1, 1958 F. R. GREENE ET AL SELF-SHANK BUTTON DRILLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 A INVENTORS ii'eaerz'c/ZE 'reezze (f ly 1, 1958 F. R. GREENE ET AL 2,841,040

SELF-SHANK BUTTON DRILLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 n? Moro/9 7 W mvamon; 9 4/ 90 fiecleric/L'R Greene 3? Willi WE Umlandf ORN y 1, 1958 F. R. GREENE ET AL 2,841,040

SELF-SHANK BUTTON DRILLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS m'llz'al Um/la/n/df BY 0 W o k I ORNEYS United States PatentQ SELF-SHANK BUTTON DRILLING MACHINES Frederick R. Greene and William H. Umlandt, Muscatine, Iowa Application December 18, 1956, Serial No. 629,140

16 Claims. ((31. 79-14) Our invention is a novel attachment providing mechanism for drilling the holes through the shanks of selfshank buttons for the well-known Barry automatic button machines, the mechanism including a rotary drill which is moved a short distance in register with each passing chuck while drilling the hole in the button, and then swung back to a dwell position to await contact with the next chuck, and then repeating the cycle, the entire device being so compactly designed that it operates within the standard seven inch radius available on the drill disc end of the Barry machine, the drill being rotated at high speed by an air or other driven motor when drilling each hole but the drill being stationary when the device is in the dwell position, thus reducing the amount of air consumed.

The principal object of our invention isto provide mechanism of the above type utilizing only onedrill which will operate eificiently on the Barry machine, running at a rate of fifty buttons per minute or more.

()ther minor objects of the invention will be hereinafter set forth.

We will explain the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one practical embodiment thereof to enable others familiar with the art to adopt and use the same; and will summarize-in the claims the novel features of construction, and novel combinations of parts, for which protection is desired.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a Barry automatic button machine showing my novel drilling attachment applied thereto, and showing the parts in the dwell position.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the parts shown in Fig. l in position to drill the self-shank-of the button blank.

Fig. 4 is a detail plan view.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on the line5-5, Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section on the line 6-6, Fig. 3. I

Fig. 7 is a transverse section on the line 7 7, Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8 8, Fig. 3.

Fig. 9 is a transverse section on the line 9-9, Fig. 8.

Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13 are plan views showing the drilling parts in various stages from the dwell position shown in Fig. l.

Our novel drilling mechanism for drilling theholes in self-shank buttons, on the wellknownBarry automatic button machine, is as follows: The button blank, grinding, polishing or drilling machine illustrated in the drawings is of conventional type commonly known as the Barry blank finishing machine and consists of a row of chuck spindles A which are pivotally linked together as at B to form an endless series of chuck spindles adapted to run around notched disks or wheels such as C mounted on upright shafts B, one of which wheels may be a driving wheel so as to move the endless series of chuckrows F.

In each of the chuck spindles A is a chuck G having expansible and contractible jaws at its upper end, the chucks G being supported upon ball feet which adjust the chucks G vertically in their respective spindles A, said ball feet engaging a cam and riding upon the upper surface thereof to open and close the said chucks to permit placement or discharging of button blanks L. The above arrangement of ball feet and cam in the Barry machine is well known in the art and needs no further description herein; nor does the same form any part of our present invention.

Our novel drilling mechanism for drilling the holes in self-shank buttons on the Barry automatic button machine is disposed over the notched disk C at the drilling end of the said machine, and consists of an arm 1 which is jonrnaled upon the vertical shaft E of the Barry machine so as to be freely rotatable thereon, arm 1 carrying the drill advancing and retracting, and the drill lateral adjusting means, hereinafter described.

Arm 1 is provided with a lateral extension 2 in which is pivotally mounted as at 2x an arm 3 which is movable in an are around the adjacent end of the endless series of chuck spindles A, as hereinafter described, arm 3 being adapted to engage each successive spindle A, as hereinafter described, to swing the arm 1 with each successivespindle A as it rounds the adjacent end of the orbital series of chucks, in a manner hereinafter described.

As shown in the drawings, arm 3 is provided with a blunt end 3a adapted to contact the leading face of a spindle A, arm 3 being normally held in engagement with the leading face of spindle A during its orbital move ment and maintained in such position by means of a spring 4 as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3, arm 3 having a skirt 3b, Figs. 1 and 3, of arcuate shape normally engaging the inner peripheries of two adjacent chucks A so as to normally prevent the blunt end 3a from engaging a chuck until the parts are in dwell position as shown in Fig. l.

The end of arm 3 opposite from blunt end 3a is reduced in width as at 3c and is adapted to engage a cam stop 5 which is adjustably bracketed on a vertical post M of the Barry machine so that after the arms 1 and 3 have been rotated through a prescribed angularity the end 30 will contact the stop 5 and, by reason of said cam action, arm 3 will be shifted radially outwardly of the shaft E into such position as to free the blunt end 3aof the arm 3 from engagement with the spindle A, whereupon the arm 3 may be retracted by means of spring 6 into the dwell position shown in Fig. 1, so that the blunt end 3:: of arm 3 may engage the next spindle A in the endless series, the arcuate skirt 3b preventing the blunt end 3a from engaging the approaching face of a spindle A until the arm 1 has been retracted into the dwell position shown in Fig. 1, whereupon the spring 4 will aline the blunt end 3:: into position to be contacted by the next approaching spindle A.

The means for returning the arms 1 and 3 into the dwell position shown in Fig. 1 consists of an arm 7 carried by arm 1, one end of spring 6 being secured as at 6a to arm 7 and the other end being secured as at 6b to a fixed part N of the Barry machine. The outer end of arm 7 is adapted to engage a spring-pressed stop 8 mounted upon the fixed part N of the Barry machine so that the arms 1 and 3 when in the dwell position always assume the same radial angularity with respect to the orbital movement of chucks G in spindles A.

Fig. 1 shows the parts in the dwell position with arm 7 disposed against stop 8 which is mounted on fixed part N of the machine, waiting for the approaching chuck spindle A to advance to a point where it will contact the blunt end 3a of arm 3 and then push the arms 1 and 3 forwardly through the prescribed are. As the arms 1-3 swing on center shaft E during the drilling operation, the blunt end 3a of arm 3 is held in snug contact with the spindle A by the tension of spring 6, thus keeping the drill 17, hereinafter referred to, in perfect alignment with the self-shank of the button or other object held in the split chuck G carried by chuck spindle A.

With respect to the mounting of the drill for providing a hole in the self-shank of the buttons carried by the respective chucks G, the arm 1, Fig. 7, is provided on its upper face with nuts 9 receiving opposed set screws 10 engaging a rib 11, Fig. 7, on a member 12 disposed axially but laterally adjustable of the member 1, the member 12 having opposed downwardly inclined sides engaged by shoes 13 carried on the ends of adjusting screws 14 which extend through tapped bores in the correspondingly shaped sides 15 of an axially movable base 16 which supports the drill 17 and its motor housing 18, whereby the drill and motor 1718 may be moved as a unit towards or from the axis of rotation of the shaft E. Inwardly of the motor 18 is a block 19 supported upon the movable base 16.

Means are provided for moving the slide 16 on the arm 1 radially so as to bring the drill 17 into and out of engagement with the self-shank of the button carried by the chuck G. As shown, this means consists of a bell crank lever having a long arm 20 and a short arm 21, said bell crank lever being pivoted at 22 (Fig. 3) on the arm 1, the pivot being disposed on a vertical axis and the rear end of the shorter arm 21 contacting the inner end of the housing 19 on base 16 which is axially slidably movable on the arm 1 to bring the drill 17 in and out of engagement with the self-shanks of the button blanks.

As shown in Fig. 3, the angularity of the shorter arm 21 is slightly offset from the longer arm 20. However, when the longer arm 20 is shifted to the left, Fig. 3, the movable base 16 carrying drill 17 and motor 18 will be shifted by arm 21 radially outwardly from the axis of shaft E so as to bring the drill into engagement with the self-shank of the button carried by the chuck G, so as to drill a hole through the shank. However, when the bell crank 2021 is in the dwell position, the movable base 16 carrying drill 17 and motor 18 will be retracted by means of springs 23 out of engagement with the selfshank of the button carried by the chuck G. The action of the bell crank lever 2021 is controlled by the longer end 20 of said lever.

As shown in Fig. 1, the longer leg 20 in the dwell position engages the outer end 24 of a bar 27; and as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the outer end 24 is carried on a lever 25 which is pivoted as at 26 intermediate its ends on the bar 27, which is fixedly mounted in the fixed upright N of the Barry machine. As shown, pivoted lever 25 may pivot in one direction but is maintained against pivotal movement in the opposite direction by means of a spring 30 (Fig. 9) which has one end fixed to a pin 31x on a support 31 extending laterally from bar 27, and its other end fixed to a pin 28 on the lever 25, which lever engages a pin 32 carried by bar 27, whereby the pin 32 and spring 30 normally maintain the lever 25 in axial alignment with bar 27, but will permit the lever 25 to yield out of alignment with bar 27 as shown in Fig. 13 when the long arm 20 of the bell crank lever 2021 is returning to the dwell position.

By the above construction Figs. 10 and 11 show that the drill has advanced from the dwell position shown in Fig. 1 to a point where arm 20 still in contact with block 24 on the end of bar 27 has caused arm 21 to pivot on pin 22 (Fig. 4) so that the short arm 21 will have pushed the drill carriage 16 radially outwardly of shaft E until the drill 17 has drilled completely through the button shank or other object held in the chuck in spindle A, as shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 12 shows that the drilling mechanism has advanced to a position where the long arm 20 has passed out of contact and beyond the block 24 allowing springs 23 to retract the drill carriage 16 back quickly toward the shaft E, thus withdrawing the drill 17 back completely clear of the shank of the button held in chuck G in which the hole has been drilled in the button shank just before the arm 3 is pivoted by end 30 contacting stationary cam 5. This pivoting movement of arm 3 causes arm 3 to swing out of contact with the spindle A and then allows spring 6 to pull the entire drilling device back into its dwell position in Fig. 1, where it dwells until the next spindle A moves forwardly to contact the blunt end 3a of arm 3, whereupon the cycle is repeated again and again as each successive spindle A comes into contact with arm 3.

Fig. 13 shows how the arm 20 pushes block 24 out of the path of arm 20 as arm 20 swings back with the entire drill carriage to its dwell position. In this figure, block 24 which is mounted on a pivotal part 25 of arm 27 has been pushed out of position by arm 20 in passing back to the dwell position, part 25 being returned to a position in alignment with the arm 27 by the spring 30 (Fig. 9) which pulls the end of arm 25 opposite bar 24 back to rest against pin 32, thus resetting the position of block 24 so as to be ready for the next drilling cycle.

Means are provided for vertically adjusting the drill 17 with respect to the self-shank of the button carried by the chuck G. As shown in Fig. 5, this vertical adjustment comprises a bolt 51 on the link of the arm 1 of the drilling device, the latter carrying a lug which is threaded to receive bolt 51, the lower end of which bolt engages a plug 52 which rides upon a smooth disk 53 which is attached to and rotates with the shaft E of the Barry machine, so that by rotating the bolt 51 the entire arm 1 and its associated parts will be raised and lowered with respect to the bottom blanks carried by the chucks G of the machine.

The above construction also provides for lateral adjustment of the drill 17 with respect to the axis of the selfshanks of the buttons carried in the chucks G of the spindles. Referring to Fig. 7, it will be noted that when the bolts 14 are released or loosened the bolts 10 on one side of the arm 1 may be tightened while the bolts 10 on the other side may be loosened so as to shift the carriage 16 laterally of the axis of the arm 1 whereupon when the bolts 14 are again tightened sufficiently to permit sliding of the carriage 16 on the arm 1 the axis of the drill 17 will have been shifted laterally with respect to the axis of the self-shanks of the buttons carried in the chucks G.

Thus our construction provides for not only vertical. but also lateral adjustment of the drill 17 with respect to the axis of the self-shanks of the buttons carried by the chucks G to insure that the holes drilled in the shanks will be aligned axially of the self-shanks and properly spaced with respect to the length of the shanks.

Means are also provided whereby the drill 17 is operated by an air motor housed in a housing 19, the air being introduced through an air hose 6%, Fig. 2, into the block 19 adjacent the motor housing 18. Preferably the inner end of hose is blocked within the housing 19 when the arms 13 are in the dwell position, but when carriage 16 is projected forwardly by the short arm 21, the hose 60 will be opened, so that the drill will be rotated at high speed by the air driven motor when drilling each hole, but the drill will not be rotated when the device is in the dwell position shown in Fig. 1, thus reducing the amount of air consumed.

We do not limit our invention to the exact form shown in the drawings, for obviously changes may be made therein within the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. In combination with a button blank finishing machine having blank holding chucks moving in an endless series in an orbital path around spaced notched disks driven by a shaft, said chucks each holding self-shank button blanks respectively; an attachment at one end of said orbital path for drilling holes in the shanks of said blanks, comprising an arm journaled on said shaft; a power-driven drill radially movable on said arm; a second arm pivoted on said first arm and swingable in an are around and within the path of said chucks at said end of the orbital path; a fixedstop; resilient means for normally retracting said first arm into its dwell position against said stop; means for pivoting, said second arm into position to contact each chuck in succession after the first arm has been retracted into dwell position; means for shifting the second arm to permit said second arm to be retracted into dwell position; a radially movable carriage on said first arm carrying said drill and its power driving means; a bell-crank lever carried by said first arm and having one leg engaging carriage, whereby the carriage will be moved forwardly as said bell-crank lever is swung; means cooperating with the other leg of said hell crank lever to project the carriage forwardly as the first arm is rotated about said shaft; and yieldable means normally retracting the carriage when the first arm is in dwell position.

2. In a combination as set forth in claim 1; means on said first arm for vertically adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck.

3. in a combination as set forth in claim 1; means on said first arm for laterally adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck.

4. In a combination set forth in claim 1; means on said first arm for vertically adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck; and means on said first arm for laterally adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck. 5

5. In a combination as set forth in claim 1; a third arm carried by said first arm; said third arm being resiliently mounted on the machine; and a spring yieldably maintaining the third arm in contact with the fixed stop.

6. In a combination as set forth in claim 1, said second arm having a blunt forward end adapted to engage the face of an approaching spindle; an arcuate skirt on the forward end of said second arm adapted to prevent engagement of said forward end of the second arm with an approaching chuck until the same has reached the dwell position; and said shifting means comprising a cam adapted to engage the opposite end of said second arm after the drilling operation has been completed, to release the second arm from engagement with the related spindle.

7. In a combination as set forth in claim 1, a stop bar mounted on said machine and adapted to normally engage the long arm of said bell-crank lever when the first arm is in dwell position; said stop bar having a lever pivoted on its outer end having a head norma ly contacted by the long arm of said bell-crank lever; said lever beingswingable in one direction, whereby when the drill has completed the drilling operation, said lever will pivot when engaged by the long arm of the bell-crank lever while returning to dwell position.

8. In a combination as set forth in claim 1, a pneumatic motor on said carriage for rotating the drill, a pipe leading from a source of compressed air to said motor; and a valve between said pipe and motor closed when the first arm is in dwell position and open when the carriage is projected outwardly.

9. An attachment for button blank finishing machines having button holding chucks moving in an endless series in an orbital path around spaced notched disks driven by shafts, said chucks each holding self-shank button blanks respectively comprising an arm adapted to be journaled on one said shaft; a power driven drill radially movable on said arm; a second arm pivoted on said first arm and swingable in an arc; a fixed stop; resilient means for normally retracting said first arm into its dwell position against said stop; means for pivoting said second arm into position to contact each chuck in succession after the first arm has been retracted to dwell position; means for shifting the second arm to permit said second arm to be retracted into dwell position; a carriage movably mounted on said first arm carrying said drill and its power driving means; a bell-crank lever carried by said first arm and having one leg engaging said carriage, whereby the carriage will be moved forwardly as said bell-crank lever is swung; means cooperating with the other leg of said bell crank lever to project the carriage forwardly as the first arm is rotated about said shaft; and yieldable means normally retracting the carriage when the first arm is in dwell position.

10. In an attachment as set forth in claim 9, means on said first arm for vertically adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck.

11. In an attachment as set forth in claim 9, means on said first arm for laterally adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck.

12. in an attachment as set forth in claim 9, means on said first arm for vertically adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck; and means on said first arm for laterally adjusting the drill with respect to the shank of the button held in said chuck.

13. In an attachment as set forth in claim 9, a third arm carried by said first arm; and said fixed stop being resiliently mounted on the frame of the machine and adapted to engage said fixed stop when in dwell position; and a spring yieldably maintaining the third arm in contact with the fixed stop.

14. In an attachment as set forth in claim 9, said second arm having a blunt forward end adapted to engage the face of an oncoming spindle; an arcuate skirt on the forward end of said second arm adapted to prevent engagement of said forward end of the second arm with a following spindle until the same has reached the dwell position; and said shifting means comprising a cam adapted to engage the opposite end of said second arm after the drilling operation has been completed, to release thesecond arm from engagement with the related spindle.

15. In an attachment as set forth in claim 9, a stop bar mounted on said machine and adapted to normally engage the long arm of said bell-crank lever when the first arm is in dwell position; said stop bar having a lever pivoted on its outer end having a head normally contacted by the long arm of said bell-crank lever, said lever being swingable in one direction, whereby when the drill has completed the drilling operation, said lever will pivot when engaged by the long arm of the bell-crank lever while returning to dwell position.

16. In a combination as set forth in claim 9, a pneumatic motor on said carriage for rotating the drill, a pipe leading from a source of compressed gas to said motor; and a valve between said pipe and motor closed when the first arm is in dwell position and open when the carriage is projected outwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 624,216 Johnson May 2, 1899 1,353,680 Vesely et al. Sept. 21, 1920 1,433,244 Soderstrom et al Oct. 24, 1922 2,078,410 Richards Apr. 27, 1937 2,549,034 Van Der Heiden Apr. 17, 1951 

